“This treatment could not eliminate tumors, but it did provide considerable benefit to many of the patients, who had all undergone extensive treatment prior to enrolling in the trial and were in the late stages of the disease,” said Lana Kandalaft, one of the researchers.
“Ovarian cancer, like many other malignancies, has so far proved largely resistant to immunotherapies, most of which harness killer T cells, which destroy sick and infected cells. Ovarian cancer cells do, however, express neoantigens, which are randomly mutated proteins that can activate anti-tumor T cell responses, the study mentioned. We were very happy that we could demonstrate how the combination therapy improved anti-tumor immune responses, and that those changes correlated to patient benefit,” said Sara Bobisse, senior author of the study.
“According to George Coukos, one of the authors of the study, this study illustrates how rational approaches to the design of immunotherapies can help overcome the barriers to immune responses that are erected by a variety of cancers, not least ovarian cancer.
Source: IANS
